Introducing our new lunch options....

With no food service, our students have been brown-bagging it or eating from the variety of choices from our vending machine. Now we are giving our students one more choice....

We have entered into an agreement with the Kitchen Manager at Columbus Christian Church to provide us a hot box lunch option! I have heard from many kids at Columbus Christian that the lunches are awesome! We are very excited to have this option available to our students. They will have choice of an entree along with choice of drink, accompanied by side items. It will be a nutritious lunch! And we are able to provide it for just $3.50! That is a great deal for a delivered hot meal option!!!

ParentConnect is online. Stop by the office to pick up your student's login and password. You can track attendance, grades, discipline and even visit's to the clinic!

It is nearing time for the swimming unit in PE. Mrs. Olibo, our PE teacher, is in need of parents to help transport to Total Fitness. If you can help, call the school....314-7078.

Our sports program is currently selling Little Caeser's Pizza Kits to raise money for athletics! Stop by the office and order a yummy kit!!! They are delicious (my fave is always the crazy bread!!!), but it also for a great cause!!! Orders are being taken until September 2!

Monica

More Science Happenings....

Our 7th grade Science class is a hands-on learning experience. Today, Ms. Gaff and her class hypothesized what would happen when you put M&M's in water. Here is her explanation:

The students believed that the colors would blend. They were very certain. Their reactions were awesome and showed how much they grasped the concept of the properties of the M&M....

And this was typical of the students...seeing their minds work and when the concepts come together....it is really exciting!!!

Monica

ISC First Annual Cheer Clinic!!!

Our sports program at ISC is underway! In the past week, Cross-Country and Boys Tennis started practicing. Our new tennis coach, Steve Klei is fantastic and is going to be exactly what our program needs to be successful! Coach Ed Wilson, cross country, has started a really solid, fundamental program that will undoubtedly be the foundation of a great program.

Coach Melanie, our cheer coach, kicked off her season with a cheer clinic on Saturday! Talk about spirit....check out the pictures of our girls strutting their stuff!!!

They were loud and proud!!!! We have a GREAT group of girls!!!

Monica

Gummy Bears were flying!!!

This week, our 7th grade science students worked on the process of developing an experiment and then implementing it. Their mission: create an aparatus to launch a gummi bear....here are some of them hard at work:

Here three of the students are testing their launcher....

Using only popsicle sticks and rubber bands, these two students make a great launcher!

Here is another launcher....

It is important for me to note....The only person injured in this experiment was me, when one flew by my head at an amazing rate of speed :) No gummy bears were hurt in the process of this scientific experiment!

This week, we also had our first parent organization meeting. Carpooling was discussed along with other great topics. If you couldn't make it, be sure and check out the first e-newletter heading out to students sometime this weekend! There will be a recap there!

Friday started Club Period. I sat in for a little bit on the International Club and it was really interesting. Be sure and ask your student what club they attended each Friday. It is going to be a really neat experience for them and a great way to start a conversation with them. I know I take any help I can get to get my teenagers talking!

Monica

Greetings from interesting places....

The school has been welcomed by so many businesses and people in the community, but the one that the kids were most excited about?????

Yep....you guessed it. I have been told about this and asked if I saw it by so many kids and it just was so cool for them! We do appreciate the welcome!

So, we have a few days under out belts and things are going great. One of the best things about the small school environment is that we really get to know all the kids. If there is a problem, you know immediately. Their personalities are so diverse and, in just two days, we are really starting to see how neat they all are.

For those who read my blog, the parent meeting is being moved to Thursday night, 6:30pm. We found a lot of conflicts with Wednesday for parents and we want to make it as accessible as we can!

Be sure and support our ISC athletics by buying a Little Caeser's Pizza Kit. They are great pizza's and for every item they sell, $5 goes to the ISC Athletics for uniforms and fees. Stop by the office and check it out!!!

Monica

First Day of School was a success!

Sorry to not have blogged much lately, but to say we have been busy at ISC would be the understatement of the YEAR :) But busy is good! I thought I would give a peek at our first day!!


We started the day with a fantastic ribbon cutting ceremony with Mayor Fred Armstrong and the Columbus Area Chamber of Commerce. The kids were on hand, along with board members, staff/faculty and parents. It was very emotional for many of the parents and board members who have been on an incredible journey for all this time, seeing their dreams and hard work become reality. But it was a very happy moment for all!

This is Mrs. Nobbe and one of the members of the Chamber.

Here are two of our students, with our certificate for the school.

Mrs. Knipstine with the 8th grade English class.

Mr. Worland with one of his 9th grade History classes.

Sra. Akingboye with a Spanish 1 class.

Mr. Stack going over class rules with is Pre-Algebra class.

Ms. Gaff and one of her Science classes.

One of our students at his locker.

A group of kids eating lunch in the Art Class together.

Lunch time in the Commons Area.

Check out our floor art courtesy of Mrs. Katz!

For me, one of the greatest things was seeing an entire school of new kids meeting and becoming friends. There was no kid eating alone. I saw kids sharing lunches and exchanging cell phone numbers to chat over the weekend. It was a great energy and a wonderful day.

Gotta give my hospitality shout out to Beth H., our Family Liason, who provided a wonderful cake, drinks and even a snack for the kids to take to class after the ribbon cutting so they could share in the festivities. She is going to be a great asset to the school. Her first order of business is carpooling. We have had so many additions to the roster in the past week, organizing this before school was not feasible. But now, we can rock and roll. She is having a meeting on Wednesday, August 19th at 6:30pm. If you need carpooling, please attend. But also, if you don't need it, but would be willing to help another family in your area out, let us know!!!

I promise to be a better blogger :)

Monica

Miles to go before we sleep....

There have been some late nights lately :) With much to do, sometimes the 9-5 just is not enough! Little details to hammer out, things to put into place....there is just a lot to do!

Last night, as we left, I was standing in the drive, looking at the sprinkler move back and forth, and my favorite Robert Frost poem came to mind, Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening. The poem has so many underlying meanings and it was a favorite of mine to dissect in college. But it also is just a very beautiful poem you can just read and enjoy. But it was the end of the poem that suddenly hit me....

The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

The school looked so peaceful and calm, but there is so much to do! It is coming together, but there are still a lot of "little things" to do.

Tonight, we are putting together teacher desks and knocking out some of those little things! If you are able, come tonight and help out!

Tomorrow is the Open House. As we have invited interested students and anyone in the community, we are holding off moving the student desks in until Thursday to accommodate anyone who would like to come and participate.

Thursday, we will be moving in the student desks and chairs during the day and evening. Please feel free to come help if you are able!

Friday is the first day of school!!!!! it is kind of like the end of one race as we move into the next!

And Friday night....I WILL SLEEP! :)

Monica

Look at where we are....

So, let's compare. I took this picture today at the school. It looks so nice as we are nearing the home stretch. The fencing is up, covering the ugly meters. The sign is on the building. The old loading dock and overhead doors are gone and replaced with bright windows and a nice, grassy area for our students to relax. As I was thinking of it, it got me thinking about the graphic rendition of what the school was going to look like. I wanted to see how different they were, even though I know there is still some work to do outside. Check this out:

That is AMAZING! It is almost identical to the rendition! What was once a vision is becoming a reality and it is just amazing.

This weekend, much has been going on at the school. Jason Owens and his crew generously came in and painted the interior exposed brick. It was fine before, but now it looks GREAT! It brightens those rooms up 100%! Thanks so much for doing that!!!

Joe H. and Ed W. finished the fence out front and it is gorgeous!

Dave C. set up the common area (we call it the flex area). This will be used for peer tutoring before and after school, lunch area, open class area, meeting area.....we will utilize this area a great deal. It is really neat seeing things come together.

Lots going on this week, leading up to our Open House on Wednesday night and First Day of School on Friday. We will have a ribbon cutting with the Mayor and Chamber of Commerce on Friday so families are invited to attend!

Monica

So....the fun begins...

So....here are pictures from the CPR training....We all passed....YEAH! But I thought I would give a low-down of ISC staff training.... So, we started with a nap :) No....that is Beth H., Mrs. Nobbe, Mrs. Plattner and Mrs. Gaff, taking their turns being the victim so the other staff could respond to their emergency!

Here is Mrs. Gaff, out science teacher, wrapping the hand of Mrs. Plattner, our art teacher.



However, Mrs. Plattner was a little confused the amount of the wrappings!!!!
Maybe she could use it for an oven mit???




Now....let me explain this one...when practicing the Heimlich manuever, we could have paired up by comparable size....but not here at ISC! We wanted to make it more interesting!!!


All in all, on top of it being a skill we wanted all staff on hand to be trained in, we had a good time. Our students are so lucky to have such incredible staff. Today, the teachers were the students and they all got an "A"!


Monica :)

Check out our new mural!

Check out our new mural! Jacob K's mom, Mrs. Katz (as everyone calls her) painted this on our wall in the common area. It looks AWESOME! It definitely is a work of art and it sooooo shows our Jaguar Pride! Special thanks to her for all her hard work. Another special thanks toDave C. (our A.D. who celebrated his birthday yesterday so a Happy Bday shout out to him!) for creating the design. It looked great on a tshirt, but looks even more amazing on the wall!!! Thanks to both of them for their contributions!

Today staff is attending CPR certification. All staff and faculty, along with our Family Liason, Beth H., will be CPR/First Aid /AED trained. This is a very serious commitment the staff has to our students and families. In a less serious side, I am getting all kinds of cool pictures to show students :)

Just a quick reminder, if you are playing a sport this year, we will need a completed sports physical on file. If you need a form, let me know.

Monica

Things are really starting to look awesome at the school!

Check out our great reception area at the school! Joe H. and Dave C. did an awesome job with the area! They have been hard at work, assembling furniture and utilizing the furniture that REMC generously donated. As you will see, there is actually two desks. I will sit at the desk to the left. To the right, our Family Liason, Beth Hauersperger, will be located. Beth will be a very integral part of the ISC team. She will be helping coordinate volunteers, track volunteer hours, and will play a very big part in activities for kids and fundraising. We are very lucky to have her on board!

It is amazing how, when you think you are somewhere that they don't know about ISC, they do. I have been at Indiana Beach over the past two days and I have been approached (due to my awesome ISC tshirts that I bought from the sports committee) about the school. A family from Marion County, whose dad works in Columbus, a family from Brown County and a family from Bartholomew County....all 2 1/2 hours from home!!! But you all know me...I am always happy to spread the word!

I wanted to do a quick shout out to Joe Hauersperger, who had a birthday today! And another one to our new ISC Cross Country coach, Ed Wilson, who also had a birthday today! Happy Birthday guys! We are lucky to have both of you involved at ISC!!

Monica

Big Days at ISC!

Last night was our July Jaguar Jamboree. As usual, our resident party planner, Beth H. (our Family Liason) did not disappoint. It was a lot of fun and the kids were great. We did have what will forever be referred to as "The Slushie Incident" (just imagine what would happen if you had about three gallons of slushie liquid not frozen coming out of your faucet non-stop....I was covered in blue and red sticky goo!!!). So if I didn't shake your hand, don't be offended! I was really afraid I was going to stick to people.

We had a great Q&A time with staff and families and there were AWESOME questions. My favorite moment of the night came when Guy Platter, one of the directors on the ISC Board of Directors, asked everyone in the audience to raise their hands if they were scared. The look of shock and surprise coupled with some raised hands made us all realize we are sitting in the same boat. And, he made such a great point. As staff and educators, we all have a little fear. This is as new to us as it is to you. But that level of anxiety, coupled with the amazing staff we have, means everyone is paying attention...to what we need, what parents are saying and what the IB curriculum is all about. As with any other profession, we get complacent with time and if no one is challenging us, we stop raising the bar. This change is us raising the bar for ourselves.

As a parent, I am more scared so I relate with all the parents out there. I have one thing that helps me and that is getting to know the staff. I know how committed and fantastic they are and that helps me when I get that queasy feeling in my tummy. I love my job, without a doubt, but as a mom, I say a little prayer every night that I made the best choices I can. Not just about ISC, but every night. And this choice is no different.

Thanks to the families that came today and helped out with the great donation we got from REMC to build our computer lab, reception area, and office areas. It is greatly appreciated!

I promise to be more diligent in blogging. This was a crazy 10 days, but in a good way!

Heads up reminder....Open House is Wednesday, August 12, 6:30pm-8pm. This will be a structured open house so please be there at 6:30pm, if all possible.

Monica